Following an ongoing pattern that I have
Natural gas is cheap now relative oil. Many believe that it is "inevitable" that natural gas will replace oil. Not so fast though. Natural gas is cheaper than oil for a good reason - exploration companies are finding and producing at record rate. And natural gas must compete with coal which still is the cheapest source of fuel to generate electricity. Here's a nice piece to explain the logical progression of natural gas. A barrel of oil contains 5.8
Natural gas drilling - on land - through shale - using American labor and technology. Here's a study from MIT - it must be true! Seriously, this is an important policy and technology. It's the best chance we have to transition to clean energy and off bad guy oil sooner rather than hopey changey expensive complex energy policy out of the White House these days.
BERK: ExxonMobil (XOM) has been criticized for its "lack" of investment spending even though it spent $26 billion on capital projects last year. (I know-$26 billion is nothing compared to the amounts governments can spend, but it's a bunch of money to the rest of us). XOM is a ValueAligned company, and consequently, it has a high hurdle rate and tough criteria for any spending that is expected to have future benefits. WIth that amount
